Try Two Point One

The Colorist
New School Color
Casey Klahn

Now compare this one. Thanks, Kristina!

Two Point Oh

Let's try this one, with a Colorist American landscape in there, instead of an abstract. And, with a white frame.

Is the whole graphic presentation more coherent?

New Tagline

The Colorist
New School Use of Color
Casey Klahn

Your responses are requested. I am re-tooling and re-working my website, and this collage resulted in an effort to post a descriptive image of my blog. The word "Artspeak" in the old tag line was a stumbler for many - especially because I use a lot of artspeak, myself!

Anyway, the goal has been to communicate my art philosophy in process. The less "wordy', the better, I feel. What are your critiques of the collage, and of the tag line: "New School Use of Color"

Bring Your Own Tissue

My son started Kindergarten today. See the post and pictures at Endless Summer Art Fair, but keep a hanky close by.

I am taking an online class this week related to the art business, through Alyson Stanfield. I will still try to have a post or two, but patience, dear readers...

Mailing Large Fine Art

Unwrapping the Big Strongbox

Logo

My artwork, Large Tri-Color Forest (framed size is @42" x 35" x 2.5"), needs to be shipped to Dayton, Ohio. That's half way across country! In this post, I will detail the professional method for handling this big task.

Full of Foam

Masterpak is the company where I get my puncture proof, and properly insurable boxes. The product itself is known as The Strongbox. Basically, the heavy corrugated cardboard box has two sandwich layers of egg-carton foam, and a cunning middle layer of foam that is die cut both on the rank and file.

They do cost a pretty penny, in spite of the advertisement to the contrary, and they are also expensive to ship EMPTY. The insurance people would frown hard, in the event of a damaged frame, if you don't do your part as an artist to use the professional materials at your disposal.

Mark for Size, Then Rip Along the Die Cut Line

Clean, Shrink Wrap the Frame and Update Your Business Card

Almost Ready

I Add Bubble Wrap

My patrons pay the shipping for the art, and I pay for the box itself, and the return bill for getting my expensive Strongbox back. Also, I charge the patron for the insurance in case of damage or loss to the artwork. In the event that the art is damaged in shipping, I will eat the insurance cost and, of course, refund the patrons for everything.

So far, I have had good experiences with shipping framed (glazed with glass) art cross-country. My carrier, until they screw up, is FedEx.

My strategy in shipping is to use next day air, since the fastest method involves the least handling. As a good example of the perils of slow shipping, I received permission from my kind patrons in Ohio to ship the box itself from their company (based in New York, but shipped from Mississippi) at the lowest rate to save myself money. They were fine with that, but the Strongbox did arrive at my door with a thick layer of dirt on it. Luckily, it was shrink wrapped and the cardboard was sufficiently clean.

I have explored kid glove shipping, but the expense is way prohibitive. Even if my works of this size went for $10,000, I still wouldn't be able to afford the custom shipping offered by carriers such as FedEx or UPS.

If you live in a large, Metropolitan center, there are services available that handle the shipping of fine art, door-to-door. Look into that yourself, as I am going to continue to live in my nice, remote corner of the planet, thanks.

Lastly, I phoned FedEx to pick-up this big item at my door. It's the quickest method, and it also allows me to have a second person here to handle the load-up of the clumsy large box. The weight is nothing to speak of, but the size is difficult to manage. When the delivery guy shows up, I will make out the return bill to put in the box, and the shipping bill to Ohio. Then, the 2" inch tape gun, and a layer of shrink wrap. Don't forget the prayer!

I'll let you know the results in the next few days.

Postscripts:

1. The art and package arrived beautifully. The art is hanging in my patron's office, and the big box has been returned via FedEx.
   
2. Apparently, the Strong Box is not made in Tupelo, Mississippi and the tag pictured above is not correct. The box is manufactured in New Jersey, somewhere, and I will be updating that picture soon to reflect the actual source of manufacture.
   
3. My personal opinion, based on my good results to date, is that these boxes are well worth the price. I am also getting a refund on my shipping cost for the original ship of the big Strongbox. It turns out that the shipping rate is not cheap, but fair compared to other really big packages that one gets.

When Bloggers Meet

Meg Lyman, of CrashOctopus fame, stopped by on her family vacation. She was driving between the Spokane Airport and Leavenworth, Washington.

She got the inside scoop on my art fair summer, and I'm afraid had to step around a lot of construction in my new studio. I heard how her Pittsburgh show went, and a little bit about her pastel work.

Everyone Loves a Good Mystery

Home, Sweet Home

While everyone does love a good mystery, the insurance adjuster is less pleased with not knowing the source of my basement flood. We had a service vacuum out the 6 inches of standing water, and after a few days of being at grandma and grandpa's house, we have the water hooked back up and are trying to get the house back in order.

Does the cistern have a surplused service to the house that broke? The pipe from the well might have failed somehow. An underground body of water might be pushing against the basement wall. The pipes and interior walls all look good. It has been a hot, dry summer. The never-ending joys of home-ownership just keep giving and giving.

So, I did what any home handyman would do, and began the process of functioning every appliance or service in the house one at a time, just to rule out internal sources of this enormous inflow of water. Ta Da! The bathtub! Our lovely, antique, claw foot bathtub holds water just fine. But when the plug is pulled, the whole shebang pours into the basement. I never thought I'd be happy to see a flood, but resolving the problem is a relief.

There is a personal and human component to the artist's life. Especially with one's studio being at the home. And with small children, a career-person wife, and the rigors of rural life...well, let's just call it a full plate.

I'll try to bust out some time for a report on my framing soon. You'll understand if it takes a few extra days, though.

PS: On the blogosphere news, I expect Meg Lyman to drop by today. Her dad lives in Eastern Washington, and she is visiting from Georgia, where she is the CrashOctopus.

Pipe Wrench

Hold on just a bit more, folks. Yesterday, after essentially a month away from home, I started the task of putting the house back in order for a series of visitors soon to come. For some reason, I needed a tool from the basement, and guess what I found?

Water! Six inches or so, standing in the basement. O, the joys of home ownership! We spent the night at Grandma & Grandpa's farm, since our water is off now. The kids slept on the floor. Poor Lorie went off to work at her usual 5 or 6 AM, but at least she had a shower at her mom's.

Did I mention that Grandma & Grandpa are in harvest? Those of you with a little knowledge of the rural life know how stressful a time that is. We just added some more!

Anyway, I'll be at the computer very little. Maybe I'll have to bust out that old tool we used to call a pen and pencil, and write my posts the old fashioned way for a while.

Blog Direction

Slowly, now, I return to the land of blogging. My art fair blast is through for a while, and I am re-entering home and studio life in beautiful Davenport, Washington.

Family life, the never-ending maintenance cycle of our old house, and soon-pending guest visits are priorities, now. The blog will be a little less so. But don't worry. I always have something to say.

Katherine Tyrrell has asked for a (detailed!) post on my framing, which you have been able to view at the Endless Summer Art Fair for the past several weeks. That will be fun and easier for me now that I have some photos to show of my framed work.

New directions with my art are on the docket. Also, I wish to continue with my Abstract Expressionists. Perhaps they will need to be interspersed with my personal stuff, since I have so much to post on. Also, look forward to seeing my posts on "our men" here in the Pacific Northwest, the Northwest School (Mark Tobey, Kenneth Callahan, etc.).

Stay tuned, kind readers.

New Look

It's a new day at The Colorist. Since my art is mostly "sold through", I get to begin the process of finding my direction anew. Do I have more "colorist" works in me? If so, what will the focus be? I have a number of ideas, including advancing the blue-centric series, and creating a series of works based on a new color wheel that I am dreaming up. Then, for the future I am thinking of a yellow series.

While the market has a say in my direction, I very much feel that the direction I will take won't be slaved to it. The new directions have more to do with artistic seeing, based on spending a lot of hours looking at my works hung together at the art fairs. I loved the newest set of all blue works, including Blue Wandering, which is now featured in the "stuff" column at the right of this blog page.

It has been so long since I functioned these template tools, that I have forgotten how to format jpegs to "fit" properly. After a few failures, I discovered a very cool detailed view of the image, which you see as a tall image there that I'll entitle "detail". I think I'll leave it up for a short while as a good example of some scratch marks, and scumbling details of my technique. Enjoy it while you can.

Back

Back from Summer Camp with the family and done with the fairs (I think) for the year. Will post here soon.
I am eager to get caught up on everyone else's blogs, too!
KC

Out of Pocket

My Booth

Home via the Sawtooths in Idaho

Like all of you, I have the summer to enjoy. I'll be "Out of Pocket" for another week while my family and I go to the lake for "Family Camp".

See you next week!

Where the Action is

See my posts at the Endless Summer Art Fair to see what I'm up to these days.

Art Theft and Vandalism

How creepy is it to steal an artwork? Is it a crime against society, in some way? This interesting theft happened recently in Bellevue, WA. I wanted to go in and give the owner a hard time, since he's fun to talk to - but I noticed the gallery had been re-flagged under a different name. That, in itself, can be sad. Maybe the organized thieves saw the new owners as vulnerable, too.

I did suffer an organized serial theft of a couple of my works a few years back in Tacoma. Am I flattered in a back handed way? Maybe a little, but not amused in the least. I was compensated by the venue both times this happened.

Interesting blog on Art Law (also has some good input on the kissing incident):

http://theartlawblog.blogspot.com/search?q=bellevue

Road Trip

Not a Yard Kitty

One of the challenges of living in the country is this neighborhood cat. As I was pulling out from home, my in-laws drove by and stopped to let me know that they spotted a cougar by my house the day before. Only, this one spanned the whole lane of the highway. That makes him @ 7 feet long from nose to tail!

The things I gotta worry about while I'm gone on my road trip...

Tune in here for an update.